If your goal is to get a lot of clean bass for a large concert or party, use the imperial as it is now.

If your goal is to fill a moderately sized listing room with bass, wait for the SO.

I may be completely wrong, but from what I gather from what Steve D has said about the SO, it uses the horn as a resonator rather than a traditional horn.

If the front of the SO was closed, I could see using it as a PA sub, however the slot that gives it well controlled exclusive bass through the horn mouth probably reduces the over all efficiency of the horn.

I see the horn on the imperial like a port, and the horn-resonator on the SO like a passive radiator. Passive radiators are not traditionally used in PA applications because of the power involved, along with the amount of air being moved. I don’t see a resonator horn being as efficient as a loaded horn.

Stv

To avoid a flame war:I am not saying anything bad about the SO. I am just saying every speaker has a purpose, and from what I have read about the construction, theory, and operation of the SO, I do not see it as a PA sub.[To the SO fanatics: Offering points and supporting them contradicting what I said is fine. Blatantly saying “I don’t agree with what you said” without support will not help anyone.]

Nobody would dare. If it says "audiophile" in the description, avoid it for pro sound use ........... PEROID! Get something stronger, designed to accept all the punishiment you can throw at it.While some audiophile gear is heavy duty, you will end up using it "heavier duty" than it's capable of withstanding. No qualifying politically correct legal statement needed here.

I'm about 1/2 way into my build of a pair of Imperial SO's (single 18). When I'm done (1-2 weeks), I'll let everyone know how they compare to my dual 18 Imperials. The plans wern't ready at Decfest, but I got the changes straight from Steve D. Not a whole lot of changes from the regular Imperial! When Steve D hooked up a signal generator to his SO's at Decfest it just re-confirmed my desire to build a pair. They have to be flat (or maybe even increase in volume) as the generator went from 40 down to 30 hz. Wow.

Interesting. Guess I uncovered the code for a smiley. It doesnt show up in the preview... Any way the Imperial SO's I'm building will have a single 18" speaker. I have Cerwin Vega188's and Madison Executioner X 18's to try in them.

That's the most exciting thing I've heard since all the hullaballoo concerning adsence of posts about the Decfest got started. One man with both Imperial and SO version side by side for comparison. You da man! My statement might have been a little strong with regards to Imperials, but I'm standing by it, hoping the Imperial SO is the one exception.

I was up until 3 doing homework. I had a 7am class that I slept though, and I had an exam today right before lunch.

It has been a bad day.

The high point of my day will be cheese steak subs for dinner, and a chance to put my feet up, and listen to music on my imperial.

DjDj:

I would recommend building the Decware modified imperial for full-range use; it is incredible. I am using a car sub, and a high QTS driver. The combination is amazing, even though on paper they look like they would be less than ideal for horn loading.

I have been using the Imperials for PA for a while now and they are definitely up to the task sonically. I understand your statement about ruggedness and I think they could be build to be roadworthy (physically tough) and also electronically tough with the right drivers. I do baby ours a little, mostly because the $30 mid-tweeters we use are not bullet-proof. With more $$ the Imperial's drivers could be made heavy-duty enough for any application and still be classified as audiophile grade. I don't know enough about the SO version to comment on its pro-audio applications.

Jim P

ps Dank, how'd you get so lucky to get the SO plans pre-release? Send us pics of the build and finished product for sure!

[quote author=JimP link=1129093914/0#10 date=1129157316]ps Dank, how'd you get so lucky to get the SO plans pre-release? Send us pics of the build and finished product for sure! [/quote]

JimP,

Must be present to win?

I am in full agreement with you about the Imperial. Oh Yeah! It's the SO version that might be too much of a specialty item to be effective as a Hi spl unit. Now we'll know for sure after Dan works it all out for us.

My attempts in the past were to have the Hi-est Fi possible. Imperials would have been perfect for small venues!

Thank you all for your responses, I'm learning every second. I actually was going to simply use 2 boxes, each with 2-15" V-max's in them and use them as dance platforms too. But from what I've heard I can use half the speakers and get wayyy better output from this newfound design. Sooo..with 2 of these Imperials layed down on their sides for girlies to dance on, am I buying plans for PA or waiting for SO???

Dank I have only two words for you ( I hate you) well I guess thats three words. You have the SO plans. :'( I talked to Steve the other day and he was not forward in offering them when I asked about them. I was actually asking a couple questions on the WO32 and I mentioned the SO in conversation when they are available, he said soon.I will not be building one to the plans now, I don't think I need to and I have no place for another one anyway.

-and here we go again-

DD-I would use Steves modified Imperial design for a PA BUT the caveat is I can hardly wait for Dank to evaluate both. Being lucky enough to have both to compare is the greatest resources any of us have right now.